Living an excellent life Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Living an dainty behavior - Essay ExampleFor instance, a rock-steady flutist is good as far as his flute playing is good (Parry). Aristotles definition also held that faithfulness was an end in itself. Eudaimonia was reached when there was zipper missing from a life. Therefore, a good life was also a complete life. He also specifically identifies homo goodness with psychological goodness rather than a material or physical goodness. His happiness is of the mind, rather than of the body (Parry). These are just a few facets of the more complex conceit of eudaimonia or happiness that Aristotle defines in his treatises. This idea however has evolved over the years and goodness or a good life today does not necessarily have to do with serving ones function or leading a purely virtuous life. There has even been the top dog of whether goodness or happiness is really of the mind alone. Bill horsefly and Matthew Dickman are two contemporary writers who present rather different opinion s on what makes an excellent life. Bill Cleggs memoir xc Days traces his progress through ninety days of rehabilitation from drug addiction while Dickmans poems touch upon many contemporary issues found in relationships like gender roles, abuse, and pain, among others. These two writers present rather different views on what makes a good life and this paper will explore how they compare to each other as well as to Aristotles concept of eudaimonia. Bill Clegg, in his autobiographical work, Ninety Days, formulates a set of principles that, to him, make a life worth living. He traces his descent into drug addiction and back again into sobriety in the memoir. cardinal of the key requirements, according to Cleggs worldview, to moving towards a good life, is honestness honesty with ones friends and family, but most importantly, honesty with oneself. This honesty needs to be coupled with a strict regime to recover from any negative or debilitating experience like turning into an addict. Cleggs own commitment to rehabilitation, as recorded in Ninety Days, is not free from trouble. He has a relapse, for instance, when just three days international from his goal and yet he starts again. Clegg, therefore, leaves room for mistakes and believes in a greater redemptive power that can overcome weakness. Another one of Cleggs requirements for a good life is the need to establish contact with others. For instance, at one point, when he has only sixteen more days to go, he has to tend out from Noahs apartment when he is not there. However, he needs to have a friend, Sai, with him while he moves out only to have a glamorous force field around him to make him feel better and stronger when he reenters the building he left on a stretcher for the starting time time. This need for companionship and the value that Clegg attaches to forming human relationships is missing from Aristotles idea. Cleggs friend in rehab, Polly, is another example of how Clegg considers establishing hu man contact with others as an instrumental part of getting sober and back to living a good life again. Polly is in many ways a foil to Clegg, she is both similar to him in circumstances and yet very different. In the extract where Clegg describes his first meeting with Polly, he declares how his first legal opinion at seeing her was I hope she doesnt want to talk after the meeting but he winds up chasing after her for her number. Their growing bond is also